Vibration Analysis for Diagnosis of Tribo-Dynamic Interaction in Journal Bearings

Journal bearing is a very critical component used in supporting transmission rotors of various powertrain systems. It is vulnerable to lubrication failure under carrying heavy transmission load capacity at high rotational speeds. Thus, monitoring of tribo-dynamics interaction within the micro-surface collisions can provide reliable information for fault diagnosis in journal bearings. Vibration analysis has well settled as a non-destructive and informative method for online condition monitoring of many rotating machineries. This paper aims to assess the induced friction and the tribological performance of the lubricant oil film between the contact collisions of journal bearing. It is based on using vibration analysis to evaluate the tribo-dynamics performance between the micro-surface,s asperities of the journal and the bush bearing. Thereby, valuable information can be provided for monitoring and diagnosis of the tribological performance and lubrication regime in journal bearings.